State Pitches School Choice

Charters, Vouchers, Virtual Learning Touted, But There Are Critics

July 8, 2004|By Denise-Marie Balona, Sentinel Staff Writer

Florida education officials are launching a campaign to sell more parents on the state's school-choice initiatives, including charter schools, private-school tuition vouchers and virtual schools that let kids finish a whole academic year using the Internet.

Town-hall meetings, starting with one tonight in Leesburg, and public-service announcements on radio and in newspapers will be used to encourage higher participation in these programs, which attracted almost 100,000 students during the past school year.

Through the years, state officials have promoted choice programs as a way to relieve crowding in regular schools and because, in many cases, they cost less to run. Today's pitch also reminds families that they no longer have to settle for a traditional public school if it does not work for their children.

"What I'd like to see is parents being more proactive in making a decision to stay in a public school or choose an alternative," said Theresa Klebacha, who heads the school-choice office at the Florida Department of Education. "The deal right now is to stay in the passing school, which is great if that's what the parent wants. But sometimes, the parent doesn't know there are other options."

Critics counter that the marketing effort could push parents to remove their children from good public schools in favor of unproven options.

They point out that students can leave a public school that has a passing or better grade on the state's annual report card to enroll in a charter school that struggles just to afford materials or a private school where teachers don't have college degrees.

The Florida Education Association, the state's teachers union, views the marketing plan as a "calculated effort to get people to fear public schools,'' said Mark Pudlow, the association's spokesman. "The message, and it's not so subtle, is public schools aren't good and these things are."

Internet-based Florida Virtual School, one of the state's three computer-based schools, has been praised nationally. Yet educators across the country also have criticized online schools because students largely miss out on personal interactions with fellow students and their teachers.

Meanwhile, lawmakers and others have questioned DOE's administration of the three tuition-voucher programs that serve disabled and poor children, along with others, at chronically failing public schools. Several people have been charged with misusing voucher money, and Florida's chief financial officer is investigating the programs.

DOE officials said that many choice programs work for children, and that they hope to make it easier for parents to decide what's best.

Officials say the town meetings across the state will do more to reach out to parent groups than what has been accomplished by public-school officials, who often oppose choice programs. The marketing push will include efforts to reach black and Hispanic media, offering messages in Spanish where helpful.

The school-choice office also plans to expand a Web site, www.opportunityschools.org, to give parents more information about the 1,200 or so private schools that accept vouchers.

Dawn Steward, legislative chairman for the Florida PTA, said many parents may not be aware of choice programs because they aren't involved with their kids' schools.

Steward said it will take more than meetings and public-service announcements to reach many families -- particularly poor ones or ones who don't speak English.

"I think you have to try all the different medias, all the different markets and, short of taking a bus out with a fog horn, it's going to be a real challenge," she said.

Many public-school educators contend that the state should make more of an effort to provide children with a quality education rather than pushing them to leave the system.

Tom Greer, president of the Florida School Boards Association and chairman of the Osceola County School Board, said the state may actually be hurting many kids by pushing these options.

"What happens in charter schools and choice schools is they're trying to do it for less money, and that's not fair to the child," Greer said. "A child may be taking a voucher and going to a worse school than he's leaving."

Since 1996, 33 charter schools in Florida have closed, including the five this year that scored their second F on the annual grades, state officials said.

Howard Burke, director of the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, said parents need to check out schools thoroughly.

"Not every school is on the same level, and that's why it's important for the parents to look and ask questions," he said.